Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has written song lyrics for the Beijing Olympic Games. The song is now completed, thanks to a music teacher who added the melody, The First newspaper said yesterday.
 
"It was a big surprise for me to be composing music for the Foreign Minister. But as soon as I found out that the minister wrote the words to the song in his car, on the way to a meeting, I was even more surprised," said Wu Jun, a teacher of the China Conservatory.
 
The paper said the minister is very interested in literature. He often spends his spare time writing and has published two poetry collections.

A common friend of both Li and Wu suggested Wu composing the melody for Li's lyrics.
 
"While working on the song, I felt like Minister Li was an ordinary Beijing citizen, filled with enthusiasm for the Olympic Games, just like me," Wu said. "We had a common goal -- to contribute a beautiful song to the Games."

Wu was so enthusiastic that he finished the song in only two days.

"The Olympic Games is a carnival for the world. We cannot fix our vision on only Beijing or China when composing the Olympic songs," he said.

Wu said his composition will need almost all musical instruments from Eastern and Western cultures.

Wu named the song One World, One Dream, in keeping with Li's lyrics. A sample recording was sent to the Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee, which is collecting songs for the event.

Here is the English translation of the lyrics by Li Zhaoxing:

We live in the world together
We share the same blue sky
The green dream
Will finally come true
As you and I expect together

We stand on a starting point
Higher, faster and stronger are our pursuits
The fire of the Olympics
We use our lives to light
See our strength under the five-circle flag

One world one dream
The world gathers in Beijing
One world one dream
The eternal love cherished by us

Let war fire here quench
Hatred here vanish
Peace and friendship here stretch
Seven-colored sunlight will continue to march

One world one dream
The world gathers in Beijing
One world one dream
The eternal love cherished by us

One world one dream
We gather in 2008
One world one dream
We gather in Beijing
We gather in Beijing

(Shanghai Daily February 18, 2006)